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Google has reacted to the devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday with a tool that helps you find a person or provide information on missing persons. The site also aggregates important resources, maps and other related information.

Google has previously used the Person Finder tool, for example, during the Christchurch earthquake and the Egypt protests.

The Japan earthquake version of the tool currently lists about 5,500 records, but the number is rising quickly as news about the catastrophe spreads around the world. Although the tool can be useful for finding information about a friend or a loved one, Google warns users that it doesn’t review or verify the accuracy of the data. Furthermore, all data entered will be available to the public, as well as viewable and usable by everyone.

Google’s Crisis Center also shows a map of the earthquake, the latest related news and lists link to warning centers, disaster bulletin boards, and train and blackout information.

The Google Crisis Center is available here, but it also shows up on top of searches for “Japan earthquake” and similar phrases. During these times of disaster, it’s good to see Google taking swift action and leveraging its vastly popular search engine to help people cope and find information.

What tools are you using to track the Japan quake? Tell us in the comments.

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Google has launched a Person Finder page in order to help victims of a powerful earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday reconnect with missing friends and families.

The website allows users to search a user-created database using a missing person’s name. If no match is found in the existing database, they can leave information about the person and a message for him or her. People can also leave information about themselves for their loved ones or add information they have about another person to the site.

At the time of writing, more than 6,500 records have been created.

Google created the Person Finder with the U.S. Department of State after the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010. Since then, it has created Person Finder websites in response to the earthquake that hit Chile in February and the earthquake that hit China in April.

The search giant has also started creating crisis response pages that list emergency numbers, resources and real-time updates from Twitter and YouTube. The page for the Christchurch Earthquake includes the Person Finder, as well as a map of the destruction.

More About: crisis response, Earthquake, Google, Person finder

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